


Getting Ready

by Sinesthero



Series: Titans of Industry [17]
Category: Borderlands, Tales from the Borderlands - Fandom
Genre: Domestic, Ficlet, Fluff, M/M, Romance, gayperion, rhys X vaughn
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-27
Updated: 2016-01-27
Packaged: 2018-05-16 15:27:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,579
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5830882
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sinesthero/pseuds/Sinesthero
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Now middle-aged, Vaughn and Rhys get ready for a party.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Getting Ready

**Author's Note:**

> Just a little thing I had rattling around in my brain that I had to write. Theoretically takes place in the future of my "The Man You Have Become," story.

Vaughn stood in his personal closet. The room was not nearly so large as the size of Rhys' immense tomb of opulence. Still, it was a sizable room filled with meticulously organized racks, drawers, and cabinets. He stood looking at his bare chest in the mirror with his thick brows furrowed behind his glasses as he examined himself. These days he was ever vigilant about his body, spending what Rhys considered to be a ridiculous amount of time working out.

As his head raised he double checked the precision of his earlier shaving. Perfect. Tonight he had to look perfect. Unfortunately, he was now grayer then ever. The well trimmed beard was entirely claimed by gray and his head maintained about equal thirds brown, white, and gray hair.

He and Rhys were both going to be turning fifty the next year. Rhys had predictably started to whine about it already as he had about forty, thirty five, and thirty. Vaughn took age in stride. It was the way life worked and no amount of mourning was going to change it.

Locating one of his form-fitting white tank tops, he slid it on before working on the crisp white dress shirt. Nimble fingers fastened the buttons. Half way through buttoning the very smart, grey waistcoat he called through the open door, "Rhys, Babe..."

"What?" Came Rhys' distant voice.

"We've only got a half hour, are you getting dressed?" he called.

"Hold on." Rhys called back.

Shortly after, Rhys wandered in through the door from the opulent bathing room that lay between their dressing rooms. He was holding a mostly empty glass of brown liquid bearing two large ice cubes. All he was wearing was a pair of green and black socks along with the slinky black boxer shorts that he preferred. The left sock covered a perfectly foot-shaped cybernetic limb, designed specially so that he could retain his taste in fine socks and shoes.

Unlike his partner, Rhys had gained a small belly due in no small part to a lifelong addiction to ice cream, alcohol and fine dining. His hair was largely still the same shade it had ever been, save for two large swaths of silver at his temples. It bothered Rhys to no end but Vaughn adored the way it made him look so distinguished.

Vaughn looked unamused as he took in his state, "Really, Scotch? Before dinner?"

Rhys grinned a casually predatory grin, "Yeah. Come on. It's our day. Relax. So what if I have a drink. No one will care if we're fashionably late."

Vaughn picked up his bowtie and started putting it on, still in a hurry even if his spouse was not. "It's rude to be late to a party thrown in your honor. Yvette's been putting this thing together for months, so we're not going to be late. Also, Fiona's coming all the way from Eden-2... and you always get competitive when you drink together so there's no need for you to start early. You need to be human tomorrow. We have that brunch in the morning and then we need to head down to the compound and see the kids. So go... dress. Stop drinking."

Though they did not have actual children, Loader Bot and Gortys had spent the majority of their time with Rhys and Vaughn over the years. For reasons unknown to Vaughn, they preferred to stay at the large, lush Atlas compound that Rhys had built when still in the crazy, early days of the company's revival. For the past five years Rhys and Vaughn had lived apart from them on the luxurious Selene Station that hung in the sky in the place where Helios once reigned. It served as the corporate headquarters for Atlas.

They were not the only robots included among their children. Rhys was constantly fiddling with robotics and had numerous robots and drones to aid him in life around the station. LB and Gortys nonetheless remained Rhys' favorites.

Rhys' leaned against the doorframe and said, "I don't have anything to wear..."

Vaughn gave him some serious side eye while he finished tying the bowtie perfectly. "You had that designer flown in to make you a suit specifically for this party. Wear it before I murder you, my precious darling."

Rhys grinned his used car salesman grin and teased, "I see Mr. Fun is out in force tonight. Do you know where my cufflinks are?" Rhys started to wander back through the bathroom to his dressing room, without really waiting for an answer to the question. Yet, Vaughn noticed that his balance seemed off.

Vaughn frowned and said, "Wait, why are you limping?"

Rhys kept walking strangely and disappeared into the bathroom, "New leg. Dang it. Gotta sit down."

There was the sound of the lid on the toilet closing and Vaughn walked in quickly behind him. "Is it okay?"

"Ehhhh I was in a hurry after the shower, not sure I connected everything properly." He was sitting on the toilet working on disconnecting the metal leg fully so that he could reconnect it.

Vaughn said, "Let me..." He batted Rhys' hands away, "I didn't know you were working on a new one."

"This one is lighter," Rhys sat back and watched Vaughn deftly handle the plugs.

Vaughn knelt down and made short work of removing the lower leg that detached just above the knee artificial knee. "It _is_ lighter... nice work there. Ok... hold your leg out straight... I'll get it reattached."

Rhys pressed his lips together and exhaled through his nose, "Alright... I was hoping we could dance tonight and the other was a little awkward for dancing. I'd also hoped to get it done sooner but... I've been so busy everything... I only got it finished this morning."

"We're definitely going to dance." Vaughn looked up with a winsome grin before asking, "Everything still the same in terms of the connections, right?"

"Yeah." Rhys licked his lips to moisten them and smiled back, "Yeah. No drastic redesigns."

"Okay... I think I got it." There was a slight click as the leg locked into place. Rhys' actual left leg had been a victim of the last corporate war the pair had the misfortune to be a part of. The terribly botched assassination attempt had happened about seven years ago. Rhys was never happy with the cybernetics that replaced his lower leg. He kept redesigning it every few years and it was a constant pet project to improve the limb.

Rhys took Vaughn's offered hand and rose to test his weight on it. "Yeah.. that's better. Thanks."

Vaughn pinched his butt as he continued past. "Okay... then hurry... we need to get going." He followed Rhys into his cavernous dressing room.

Rhys chuckled and wandered over to one of his racks to grab his black slacks, "Alright." He muttered with intentional loudness, "Slave driver." He worked at pulling on his slacks while Vaughn found his under shirt.

"Oh I can make you my slave tonight." Vaughn grinned, "And I will... if you don't get too drunk with Fi and pass out."

Rhys wiggled his brows and reached out to take the shirt. He pulled it on carefully so as to not mess up his already perfectly coiffed hair. "That sounds tempting. I'll do my best."

Vaughn moved off to search an armoire for the cuff links while Rhys put on his shirt. He knew instinctively which pair his husband wanted and found them quickly, "Good... Here's your cufflinks... I'm going to go get my jacket on. Meet you in the living room."

Rhys was busy working on the buttons of the shirt. "Will do... just a couple minutes and I'll be ready."

Vaughn headed back through the bathroom and found his grey suit coat. He put it on and then spent a quick moment making sure he looked good before heading out to the living room.

Out the large, living room window he could see the expanse of Pandora below. It was greener now, in patches, thanks to the work they had put in with industrial clean up and terraforming.

To Vaughn's mind, an unfortunately large portion of Atlas's portfolio was still in weaponry. Demand for such things never ended, but Rhys had managed to build the company in to something more then just that. They had put real effort into Pandora and slowly things were starting to change for the better there.

Though it all Vaughn had always remained close at Rhys' hand to act as his conscience. He had even resigned as the Chief Financial Officer a few years ago to take over as the head of the philanthropic arm of the company. It pleased him far more to be responsible for using their substantial fortune to do good.

"Rhyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyys! Come on." He called, growing impatient.

Yet when Rhys appeared, resplendent in his black and green double breasted suit and looking as gorgeous as he had the day they were wed, all irritation faded away. "Nothing to wear," Vaughn snorted, "You look great. Better then great. Perfect."

Rhys sauntered up to him gracefully, in spite of the cybernetic leg hidden under all that formal wear. He bent down and kissed Vaughn firmly on the lips before saying, "You're not looking too shabby yourself."

Vaughn said, "So kind of you to notice." He linked his arm around Rhys' and said, "Happy 20th Anniversary, Rhys."

"Happy Anniversary, Vaughn," Rhys smiled down at him softly.

 


End file.
